I've never been to Columbia river. I sail in SF Bay Area -- Berkeley and 3rd. I also have a 14 year old who just can do some basic on a longboard.
I want her to take a few days of lessons, and to learn as much as possible in the most enjoyable way.
I'd take some lessons myself, to learn to complete jibes, and just to improve what needs to be improved.

BigWinds is probably one of the most stable shops in town, with great lessons for kids. Rentals too. The owners really downplay the "attitude" thing too. My 12 year-old daughter just had a great session last weekend with Lizzie of Big Winds. Call the shop - info here:
www.bigwinds.com

ABK is doing lessons down at the Hook. You can arrange for lessons by calling Isthmus Sailboards at 541 386-5552 and set up appointments. You can check out the Isthmus website to get more information on ABK. They are also doing a clinic here in Hood River. Can't go wrong with Andy Brandt and his crew.

One thing I notice about lessons in the Gorge, they seem to be very expensive for what you pay for. Brian's a great guy, but he doesn't get into the water with you, and tends to do a lot of talking on the beach.
In my opinion, and it is just that, I think windsurfing is learned much more by doing than by listening to instruction. Instruction is great, but you only can digest a couple of things at a time.
What really helps is a wide board, but not with a dagger board (center fin) and enough of a sail to get you powered but not out of control.
I saw Big Winds staff at Viento on Saturday, teaching a group of kids. It might have been an advanced clinic, they knew how to sail. The Big Winds Staff seemed very attentive, though again, I didn't see anyone going out on the water with the group, but I don't know what was actually going on. Are you bringing your own gear? If so, what is it?

I don't want to say who, but one of the two before-mentioned is acting the total kook these days, perhaps as his business is getting harder. He was the best before, even two years ago, now he's just trying to hit on young female students.

Ben at ABK is an absolutely fantastic instructor. Patient, knowledgable, and extremely experienced. He has taught my wife, son, and countless friends who have visited us at the Gorge and always gets rave reviews.

I'm not down on lessons at all, if you can afford instruction, its great, but it is pricey. My wife can do sub-planing jibes on her 103 liter board, doesn't make all of them but is getting better every time out. This is her 3rd season. Footstraps/harness issues were conquered 1st season. Here's my two cents worth on becoming a better windsurfer/learning to carve jibes or stay dry jibes:

Harness: new to using a harness? You should be wearing and using your harness from day 1, your board was not designed to be arm sailed. Get the long harness lines that have the knot at one end, when you keep slipping out, undo the knot and shorten the line.

Footstraps: if its an option, put your footstraps in a well in-board position. Make your footstraps large so they are very easy to get in and out of (they should be opened wide so that your foot will slip out in a fall). When your ready, move your footstraps farther out, and tighten them down so basically just your toes poke past the strap.

Jibes: buy Jibing with Alan Cadiz on Maui DVD. This is a great video, that teaches all the steps for planing and non-planing jibes. Practice with a bigger, wide board doing clew first sailing. This really helps a lot, and its where most people go wrong. They just want to have fun on the water doing reaches, and don't take the time to develop a skill set that will help them jibe. Remember: a planing jibe attempt takes all of 3 or 4 seconds, so even if you try 10 jibes, that's 30 seconds of practice for the day. Not hard to see why it takes some people a decade to learn how to jibe. Finally, while planing jibes are really fun to pull off, its the "stay dry" jibe that's most important. Turning around up on your board saves you so much energy, you'll see a very rapid improvement to your sailing once you can do any kind of jibe at all consistently.

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